Sol Wachtler

Sol Wachtler

Solomon Wachtler (born April 29, 1930) is a New York State lawyer and former Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, which is the highest position in the State judiciary.

Career

Wachtler earned his B.A. and LL.B. from Washington and Lee University.

He began his government career in 1963, when he was elected a councilman of the town of North Hempstead. He was elected to the New York State Supreme Court in 1968 and elected to the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, in 1972. In 1985, he was appointed Chief Judge of the State of New York and the Court of Appeals.

Famous for the remark, "A marriage license should not be viewed as a license for a husband to forcibly rape his wife with impunity," Wachtler was a key figure in making spousal rape a criminal offense. ("People v. Liberta"). His groundbreaking work on the court also led to the broadening of protections for the disabled and racial minorities.

Arrest

In 1988 Sol Wachtler began an improper affair with Mrs. Joy Silverman, 46, while the executor of the Silverman will and the trustee of the Silverman family's $24 million trust fund. He collected more than $805,000 in fees, which Mrs. Silverman considered excessive. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE6DF1F31F934A1575BC0A965958260 "Estate Fee To Wachtler Is $800,000"] , NY Times, August 27, 1993.] He started a harassment and blackmail campaign against Mrs. Silverman when she ended their affair in September 1991. Mr. Wachtler authorized he be paid $38,665 in trustee commissions for 1992, which Mrs. Silverman protested. When confronted by Mrs. Silverman he told her, "No-one will believe you." However she was recording the conversations, which she took to the federal authorities in the belief that Mr. Wachtler would not be prosecuted by the New York legal establishment. Mr. Wachtler was arrested on an expressway while driving home in November after authorities said he arranged to pick up a $20,000 extortion payment from Mrs. Silverman. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=980CE6DE153DF931A35751C0A965958260 " Wachtler Charged in Indictment Detailing Harassment Campaign"] , NY Times, February 2, 1993.] Judge Wachtler claimed mental incapacitation due to a bipolar disorder. Found competent to stand trial, he pleaded guilty to harassing Joy Silverman and mailing a condom to her teenage daughter. He resigned as a judge and from the bar, and served an 11-month sentence in a mental health unit of a federal prison.

Life after NY Court of Appeals

Since his prison time, Wachtler has written his own prison memoir, "After the Madness" (ISBN 0-7592-4519-3), and a fiction book, "Blood Brothers" (ISBN 1-59007-421-1).

He is currently the chief executive of Comprehensive Alternative Dispute Resolution Enterprise (CADRE), an alternative dispute resolution firm based in Great Neck, and is an adjunct professor at the Touro Law School.

He was reinstated to the New York state bar on October 2, 2007. [ [http://news.lp.findlaw.com/ap/o/632/10-03-2007/66140008e4754e92.html "Ex-Judge 'Delighted' to Be a Lawyer Again"] , Associated Press, October 3, 2007.]

Wachtler lives in Manhasset, New York.

"Ham sandwich" quote

Wachtler famously observed that prosecutors have so much control over grand juries that they could convince them to "indict a ham sandwich." [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5571945] The phrase has become something of a cliché used in television legal dramas.

References

External links

* [http://lcmedia.com/rafiles/tim412.ram The Infinite Mind interview]


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